Tonight’s Finale
Fox: 9-1-1 at 8p

IN THE NEWS

CBS picked up three new series: An Equalizer reboot starring Queen Latifah and Chris Noth, from Universal Television and CBS Television Studios; Silence of the Lambs sequel Clarice, from CBS TV Studios; and Warner Bros. TV comedy B Positive, from Chuck Lorre and Marco Pennette.

A new report on COVID-19’s impact on the pay-TV industry did not paint a pretty picture. “The cord-cutting trend was obviously well underway long before the current COVID-19 crisis. But the rate of change is being unmistakably sped up,” said MoffettNathanson Research’s analysts. “One can point to transitory (hopefully) accelerants like the lack of sports, but does anyone think that when sports come back those customers will return to pay TV (either traditional or vMVPD)? We doubt it.” The report points to price and a generation of customers who don’t want to view entertainment on a schedule as factors, and notes that while streaming services are direct-to-consumer “lifeboats,” they will likely never “come close to matching the business they are ostensibly designed to replace.”

On a more positive note, when the economy has recovered from the pandemic, the landscape could be healthy for local news, said E.W. Scripps President/CEO during the company’s quarterly call. “We believe we have moved into a new era of the journalism industry, one in which news – especially local news – is again a must-have for most Americans,” said Symons. “This era begins at a time when local broadcast news rooms are uniquely positioned to cover our communities and meet audience demands. Ratings and audience impressions at our local stations have been up on average between 10% and 50%. And that same data shows the Scripps brands are taking a bigger share of the increased attention.” While core advertising for Scripps stations slipped 40% from March to April, May is pacing ahead of April, and June is pacing ahead of May.

More good (local) news: Local TV news is tops when it comes to marketing effectiveness, according to an analysis of March Nielsen data conducted by trade association TVB. Compared with tent-pole programming and events, local TV stations’ 6p news provided greater audience impressions. “Unlocking America’s economy begins on Main Street and local TV’s ability to impact consumers is unparalleled,” says Steve Lanzano, CEO of TVB. “The data shows that local news delivers audiences in numbers greater than popular TV programs and drives greater awareness and action for advertisers than any other medium.” Highlights from the analysis includes:
· A single spot running during the average weekday 6p local news across the seven network affiliates delivered 29 million cumed impressions compared to 9.2 million cumed impressions generated during the same period, in the same markets, on cable news.*
· TV station evening news audience (29M A18+) exceeded special TV event programming during COVID-19, including NFL Draft First Round (12.5M A18+) and the Michael Jordan documentary miniseries, The Last Dance, Night 1 (4.1M A18+), and 30% more than the combined total of the Walking Dead Season Premiere, The Last Dance, The Orange Bowl, and Monday Night Football.

ID’s fan engagement event, IDCON, is going virtual for 2020. IDCON: Home Together will allow fans to ask ID stars questions, and offer surprises, activations and special guest appearances during the two-hour event. Additionally, attendees will receive sneak peeks of upcoming programming for the network’s true-crime programming event, ID Presents: Nine at 9, kicking off on Memorial Day and featuring headline-making cases at 9 p every night.

Also going virtual: San Diego Comic-Con. The July event was canceled, but an at-home version will be streamed this summer instead. “Coming soon…Free parking, comfy chairs, personalized snacks, no lines, pets welcome, badges for all, and a front-row seat,” announced a video for the festival.

Amazon Studios greenlit season two of Upload, the sci-fi comedy from Greg Daniels (The Office, Parks and Recreation). “In Upload, Greg Daniels delivered a smart, cinematic comedy crackling with intrigue and it has clearly delighted our customers who have spent a lot of time in Lakeview this past week,” said Jennifer Salke, Head of Amazon Studios, “We know our global fans want to see the next chapter with Nathan and Nora so we are greenlighting Season Two and are excited that Greg’s passion project has found such a devoted audience.”

Adult animated series Santa Inc. got an order from HBO Max. The eight-episode series from Lionsgate will be written by showrunner Alexandra Rushfield (Shrill) and feature voice performances from Sarah Silverman and Seth Rogen. Rogen’s Point Grey Pictures is producing as part of its partnership with Lionsgate.

NEW & RETURNING SERIES

HBO’s I May Destroy You debuts Sunday, June 7 at 10:30p. The series, executive produced, written by and starring Michaela Coel (Chewing Gum), explores the question of sexual consent in contemporary life.

How did a man manage to stay alive for 3 days in a shipwreck at the bottom of the ocean? That’s the kind of true underwater tale explored in new Discovery series, Mysteries of the Deep, launching Wednesday, May 27 at 10p.

Lifestyle entertainment company Kin is expanding its partnership with Facebook Watch with remotely-filmed What Happens at Home, featuring Christina Milian. Premiering Thursday, May 14, it’s the seventh series Kin and Facebook Watch have partnered on to premiere exclusively on the social network.

For the fifth season of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars, premiering Friday, June 5 on VH1, “We’ve come up with a new twist that is so twisted it’s guaranteed to twist your twisted minds,” teased host and executive producer RuPaul. The show, initially slated to premiere on Showtime, will now premiere on VH1 due to scheduling changes resulting from the impact of COVID-19.

Univision New York has extended its half-hour weekly special Juntos Somos Fuertes, through the month of May to continue offering information to the Hispanic community during the COVID-19 crisis. Since its debut on April 12, the show has made Univision New York 41 No. 1 on broadcast television in its time period, regardless of language.

ADVERTISING

TV advertisers expect to pull back their network spend commitments by about 25% in 3Q20 due to COVID-19, according to Television News Daily, versus the norm of 3-4%. Rather than the usual deadline of 60 days before the start of a quarter to cancel, TV networks “are providing extensions pretty freely,” an ad exec told TND.

Tide Loads of Hope will sponsor an upcoming installment of Fuse’s social responsibility initiative, Be Change. “Be Change: Be Thankful” celebrates the essential workers working throughout the COVID-19 crisis and provides the Fuse audience with active ways to show their appreciation. The sponsored vignettes will live on Fuse linear starting this month.

COMING UP

Nat Geo WILD is going to the dogs the week of May 18, with a weekday-long marathon of shows dedicated to all things canine. Dog whisperer Cesar Millan will headline the net’s “Sit, Stay, Dogs All Day” stunt.

America’s Funniest Home Videos goes remote with AFV@Home, airing Sunday, May 17 at 7p and hosted by Alfonso Ribiero from his home. The special will be followed by the season finale of American Idol. Concert special Taylor Swift City of Lover Concert will air at 10p. The concert was filmed last September in Paris, and includes behind-the-scenes moments as well as performance footage.

Bravery and Hope: 7 Days on the Front Line, focusing on the Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, airs Friday, May 15 at 9p on CBS. The special shows the impact of COVID-19 crisis on the medical staff, patients and neighborhood.

CNBC’s Scott Wapner examines the rise and recent decline of direct-to-consumer genetic testing in special DNA Testing: The Promise and the Peril, tonight, May 11 at 10p.

Most of the Community cast will join series creator Dan Harmon for a reading of the season 5 episode, “Cooperative Polygraphy.” A benefit for the Jose Andres World Central Kitchen and Frontline Foods, the reading will stream on the Community YouTube page on May 18 at 5p.

Kids’ platform Kabillion is going all in on National Dinosaur Day, May 15, with dino-themed content – from battling with animatronic dinosaurs in Transformers Animated: Blast from the Past to finding living 170-million-year-old dinos in Gumby, and more.

Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
Who played the title character’s only convicted client on Perry Mason (1957-1966)? Julie Adams. Kudos to: Rev. Mark Wajda/Lakeland, FL, Gerry Bixenspan-TV Marketing Inc./NYC, Adam Sumrall, FETV/South Bend, IN, Paul Blutter-Walk and Talk Production Rentals/Burbank, Lorrie Shilling/El Segundo, CA, Susan Nessanbaum-Goldberg-M and S Entertainment/LA, David Garber-Loyola Marymount University/Playa Vista, CA

Today’s Trivia Question
In which series did Mary Tyler Moore replace Dyan Cannon as the main character’s mother? (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company, city and time zone. Unofficial rules: a limit of four answers per time zone.)